Gasland

I must seem like the most boring person to the people who don't know me. Lining up documentary after documentary, going back through my entries I sometimes think "gosh, is this all I do, watch docs and search the internet for anything environmentally related?" Well, I don't. I find it hugely interesting to watch these different documentaries. I am aware of the fact that the documentaries I watch are quite biased and maybe one-sided but to be honest I trust these documentary makers far more than business or state reports. Yes, it might sound conspiratory but I believe the business world is a corrupt place and having seen the documents of the sums involved in lobbying, I have no doubts that (many) states are corrupt.

Either way, tonight's doc offered an insight in the process of natural gas extraction. Sometimes I think I should just stop caring about the world, what is the point, there is so much that is wrong with this world. How can just a few people at the top have the power to ruin so many lives and destroy natural habitats?

This film is kind of like Erin Brockovich. Josh Fox, who made the film, (nominated for an Oscar for best documentary 2011) got an offer from a gas company on his property for nearly $100 000. Bring his family home, built by his parents he wanted to know more about the effects of gas extraction. The facts he found were not encouraging. Turns out that oil and gas companies are exempted from laws on protection of drinking water etc and they do not have to disclose the chemicals used in this process. However, several water testings showed the use of some seriously harmful chemicals that cause brain damage. Thousands of people are living in these areas and breathing this air everyday. It's insane. You really have to watch it to understand the full scale of things. Only in America... I hope to I-don't-know-what only in America!

Can I offer you some flammable water perhaps?

Forks over knives

Oh I love this film! This is a documentary that crushes the idea of meat being sooo good for you, because you know what? IT ISN'T. 


Yes, meat contains a lot of the antioxidants, protein and vitamins that are essential to us. However, so does plants. And guess what?! We actually don't need as much protein as we think we do, no not even the top atheletes need to eat kilos of meat daily.... There is no evidence that proves that meat is bad for you, but there is a lot of evidence that points to the fact that our huge consumption of meat is bad for us.

This film argues on the base of some strong scientific evidence that changing to a plant-based diet reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease. Significantly. I'm surprised that the illusion of meat being so nutritious for us is still live and prospering because looking at simple facts it is so obvious that it is not. In small portions, yes, one serving a day is enough, more than that is actually bad for us. Check this graph out for example:

Circulatory disease: heart and vascular diseases
This diagramme is from a study in Norway where it clearly shows that during the years of low meat consumption (due to the war and occupation) deaths caused by circulatory diseased dropped, just to start climbing again when the war was over.

Then we have several studies conducted in for example Asia where cancer and cardio-vascular diseases have steadily risen in the same pace as fast food places started to establish themselves in the regions.

Watch the documentary to know more! I assure you it is worth watching. Since I became a vegetarian I've always said that I feel better and healthier, I've got more energy and my "mean weight" has reduced by 2-3 kg. This documentary kind of answered my questions around this and made me all the more sure that vegetarianism is the right option for me. And it is important to note that it is necessary to have a strict no-meat policy, I haven't but I just feel better not eating meat...

Money As Debt

A documentary about our monetary system, the history of it and the problems we're facing. Kind of like "money for dummies", easy to understand and quite short but I would say very simplified. Still definitely worth watching!

What a weekend!

FRIDAY

Rauhrackel

 Such a cosy place, but you should book a table as we discovered to our disappointment... So we went to Arimans with some of Julia's friends for another drink.

SATURDAY

UNICEF CAMPAIGN AT IKEA

Speading info about the soft-toy campaign for unicef and save the children. For each soft-toy bought 10 SEK will go to the organisations (even if the toy is only 5 SEK... pretty good)

Miraculous Wednesday

Guest show from Tanzcompagnie Oldenburg. A dance about time, the ability to go back in time and change your decisions. 

Sunday christmas markets

Knitted ties!

mmmm...Marabou

 

The industrial design students had a market selling their own designs. Really good!

Tänt var det här!

The lighting of the tree in Lundagård.
Tradition in Lund

 Market at Kulturen

Unfortunately the only pic I took, after biting the head of my pig...

Sunday evening we had a julmys at Hanna's. Lussekatter (saffron buns), pepparkakor, glögg, a brie cake (mmm well done Hanna!), chocolate, mmm so much food! The storm raving yesterday added to the ambiance, even if it was a little bit scary....

Thanks all for a good weekend!

Klimatkontot

Räkna ut din klimatpåverkan!

klimatkontot.se

Medelsvenssons utsläpp:

(bostad, resor, mat, övrigt, summa)
The emissions of an ordinary Swede
(house, travels, food, other, sum)

Mina ungefärliga utsläpp var mycket lägre men det är mina jäkla flygresor som driver upp det till en summa på ungefär 4.2 ton koldioxid per år!

(flying is my main contributor... better cut down on my travels! Oh no, wait, I'm flying across the world next year....)

Quick tips on how to cut down your personal emissions:

1. FOOD = Eat more veggies... Sorry meat lovers...
2. TRAVEL = public transport, train is good, flying is bad, pretty much....
3. CONSUME CONSUME CONSUME. No I'm kidding, CUT DOWN on consuming... Yes I know it's hard, I keep looking at these shoes that I want soo badly. But I don't need them. But I want them! Buuuut, I'm not going to buy them. Or! or. I'll plant a tree and buy them anyway.. Hmm... no. 

You can't kill an idea

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) campaign is steadily growing. The issues have existed far too long and the idea is here to stay. The governments can take down the camps but they cannot remove the cause. We have to make sure that this movement keeps strong, the 99 % is speaking up against the 1 % and it's about frickin time.

Avaaz is organising support for the OWS movement so if you, like me, can't be on spot protesting you can donate money here.I couldn't donate much, but if everyone donates a small sum it will become a significant contribution to this important cause!

The US Bank Association are planning a strategy to battle this movement (surprise surprise) and you can read the letter here.

This is a global movement, it is not just about Wall Street, it's not about the US. We live in a globalised world, the chocolate I buy in Sweden ultimately influences a five year old working to pick the beans in Ghana. (thank you sustainable eating course, I urge you all to buy fair-trade!) We need to stand up for the 99 % of the people in the world that do not have 90 % of the wealth. In addition, we need to stand up for the environment. It is crazy that money means more than life.

Eco cosmetics

The best cleansing milk I've ever had! 

I can really recommend it if you have

dry and sensitive skin. It removes

the best of party make-ups and it

lasts forever.

100 % natural ingrediants

95,3 % from organic farming

Find it on jordklok.se or healthstuff.co.uk, if you google eco cosmetics you'll find tons of sites selling their products. If you live in Malmö you can find it at Astrid och aporna.

Bildregn från Azorerna

My mum, Sven, Fynn and I went to the Azors in the start of Oct and here are some pics from the trip....

Awesome wave breakers

Swam with dolphins
Speechless

A whole in the wall...
Rotas, vegetarian restaurant

Became our favourite restaurant
by faaaaar. By Far.

Oh, look out, cow on the road!

This water is supposedly good for you...
Not convinced....

Matching

Would NOT want to fall down....

Not quite so impressive when you find out that the
waterfall is man-made.... Sometimes it's better
not to climb up the top and continue living
in bliss

So yeah, that's pretty much the essence of our trip...

Join the circus

Unfortunately I forgot the memory card for my camera the first part of the night, so no pics from the preparty  and only two from the circus party. 

Simon, my lovely aussie corridor mate Bryan and
the beautiful Lucy from Holland. 

They really went all out with the circus theme!

At Julia's houseparty we got an interesting drink, cognac=not my thing. The party spirit died a little after a 20 minute bike ride so we all ended up playing rock band til bedtime... Thankfully there are no pics from that part either....

Creativity flowing in Julia's room

A french themed painting and some Brigitte Bardot To veux ou tu veux pas... Such a bad good song!

Buy Less, Buy Used

Refreshing! An American outdoor clothing company has lunched the campaign Buy Less, Buy Used!

What happens when one of America’s most successful and beloved companies suggests that consumers reduce their purchasing of new products? Outdoor outfitter Patagonia did just that - raising the economic ante for Corporate America with a first-of-its-kind “Buy Less, Buy Used” initiative, offered in coordination with eBay and the Common Threads Initiative. Instead of encouraging consumers to buy new Patagonia products on the company’s e-commerce site, the company has suggested that consumers purchase used clothing and gear via eBay auction. Not only does this represent the first time that eBay has sold items directly on another company’s e-commerce site -- it represents a radical statement about the future of a U.S. economy predicated upon consumption, planned obsolescence and the relentless celebration of the new and trendy.

It’s hard to imagine other companies daring to undertake the same kind of initiative -- especially within the fashion industry. Patagonia, in announcing the “Buy Less, Buy Used”initiative, explained that it was the next logical step to take in order to become a truly eco-conscious company. It also ties into the Collaborative Consumption movement, which started in earnest about a year ago with Rachel Botsman giving an inspiring speech at a TEDx event, and has been picking up momentum since then. Websites like thredUP, which encourage parents to package up used clothing that their children can no longer wear and swap it for other used clothing that their children can wear, are emerging as a result of the growth of the Collaborative Consumption movement.

The founder of Patagonia said that he has already made "far more money than he ever intended", and he launched this campaign simply because it's the right thing to do. Hopefully this is a new trend!

Read the entire article here

Beethoven 9th symphony

If you haven't been to St Jacob's Stenugnsbageri on Klostergatan 9 you are missing out, go there now! So yummy....

At 1700 Lunds academic choir with orchestre performed Beethoven's 9th symphony in Allhelgonakyrkan. It's a powerful experience and it was what I needed after this stressful week.

Two tests, an exam due and a presentation on the exam paper. The funniest thing was that I messed up the dates and realised at 1300 on wednesday that the exam paper was due in three hours. Didn't make it, but I got to hand it in later, just couldn't get a higher grade on it. I wrote about the sustainability of the beef industry with emphasis on the US. Not sustainable at all, in fact I would never touch beef I hadn't bought myself from an organic farmer in USA. Just watch Food Inc and I think you'll all agree with me...

Now I'm going to get ready for our corridor preparty, followed by a circus party, finished off by Julia's house party. Bring on the Malibu! Oh yes, it's going to be one of those nights.....

Finally!

An article copied straight off... Love to see this! About frickin time things start to happen!

From Huffington Post

Coastal Countries Step Up for Sharks

Posted: 11/17/11 01:50 PM ET

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  Video , Endangered Sharks , Killing Sharks , Ocean Environment , Oceans Protect Sharks , Overfishing Oceans , Palau Sharks , Shark Fin Soup , Green News

Sharks have roamed the seas for more than 400 million years, but today many species are being hunted to extinction. Now, some unlikely allies have emerged for the ocean's top predators -- several of the world's smallest countries have generated a wave of conservation measures. In 2008, there was no such thing as a shark sanctuary. These days, it's a different story.

Since the 1990s, growing demand for shark products, specifically fins, has coincided with serious population declines for a number of shark species in regions throughout the world. In addition to directed shark fisheries, sharks are increasingly caught by vessels targeting other fish like tuna and swordfish. A new scientific review released this week highlights the extent of this shark bycatch problem.

While the pace of fishing has increased, precautionary management has not been implemented at the same rate. As many as 73 million sharks are killed in order to supply the fin trade each year. That's 200,000 per day, every day.

Further illuminating the grand scale of the shark-product industry, Pew recently discovered and released to the public photo and video documentation of fishermen bringing sharks and fins into Taiwan to enter the market for sale. A report by Pew and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, showed that the country ranked fourth in the world in catch volume for sharks, after Indonesia, India, and Spain.

It is estimated that 30 percent of shark species are threatened or near-threatened with extinction. That's a critical concern, as these animals are essential to maintaining the balance of the marine ecosystem. They regulate the diversity and abundance of species below them in the food chain, including commercially important fish. They play a similar role in the ocean to that of land-based predators, like wolves in Yellowstone or lions on the Serengeti. Sharks cull the sick, diseased, and wounded, keeping prey species' populations healthy.

More and more, people are starting to recognize how indispensable these ocean predators truly are, and many countries are taking strong measures to protect them. I've found that when policymakers and leaders see the global picture of the number of sharks taken out of the oceans each year, they recognize the vital role their individual country can play. This effect has spurred the phenomenon of shark sanctuaries and other protections that continues to gain momentum.

In 2009, the small Pacific island country of Palau banned shark fishing in its 600,000 square kilometers of water, creating the world's first shark sanctuary. A mere six months later, theMaldives joined the cause, protecting its more than 920,000 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean. 

In the western hemisphere, Honduras was the first to act. In June, the country declared a shark sanctuary in all of its marine areas, which are the size of Wyoming. The Bahamas followed soon after, protecting its 40-plus species of sharks, followed by Pacific island territory Tokelau in September. 

Recently, the Marshall Islands declared its waters in the central Pacific off-limits to shark fishing as well, creating the largest sanctuary to date. That's nearly 2 million square kilometers, or four times the size of California. All told, in three years the world's oceans went from no shark-specific protected area to more than 4.7 million square kilometers of dedicated zones.

In addition, many countries have taken other measures to guard against overexploitation. After Pew's release of the disturbing images of vulnerable shark species being readied for market, Taiwan's fisheries agency reiterated plans announced in July to enact a finning ban in 2012. This builds on a similar decision by Chile this year, and powerful fin trade bans in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and Guam. The message from coastal and island countries across the globe has been one of growing support for an animal integral to the health of their waters and economies.

But more will have to be done if these ancient kings of the ocean are to fully recover from decades of overfishing. More countries need to join this cause, and we're optimistic that sharks will have many new guardians in the coming months and years. These predators serve a vital purpose in our oceans, and the imbalance that their extinction would bring is a preventable tragedy.